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In its six years of doing business, Nuuly, the URBN-owned clothing rental platform, has found that word-of-mouth is its most effective growth strategy. And, according to Julia Piccone, Nuuly’s senior director of marketing, that goes beyond literal friends and family nowadays. “We know people [also] consider influencers or creators sort of like their friends and family,” she said. This knowledge led to the 2023 formation of Club Nuuly, the brand’s ambassador program.
Via Club Nuuly, creators who post about the service are gifted with free months of use, gift cards, etc. By design, it has a very low threshold to join: One must only have above 2,000 followers. In any given month, there are typically around 100 participants. Club Nuuly has been enough of a hit that, last fall, the brand saw an opportunity to work with its members to host IRL events. “We wanted to bring the communities that these creators have offline and let them host their own events within their existing communities.”
This, of course, is also a great way to engage communities outside the coasts. “We have a lot of penetration on the coasts. For these micro-events, we were in places like Atlanta, Raleigh, Dallas and Portland — we tried to focus on a mix of both cities and suburbs. We don’t want to just be in major metropolitan areas; we feel like Nuuly is for everyone,” Piccone said. She noted that, specifically, the South is a fast-growing market for the company.
In the fall of 2024, Nuuly tapped a few micro-creators to host four events. These creators were given a budget by Nuuly and paid to host the events. “We do pay the creators a small creator fee in addition to sponsoring the event,” a rep for the brand confirmed.
For example, last August, Gabby White (10,000 Instagram followers) hosted a Matcha Meet-Up at Spot of Tea, a locally-owned matcha cafe, in Washington D.C.’s DuPont Circle. The first 150 guests received a free custom drink and, as is the case with all of the micro-creator events the brand has sponsored, all guests received a month-long Nuuly subscription for free. Also last August, Josie Francis (34,000 Instagram followers) and her roommate Nicole Agner hosted a Besties Brunch at their Los Angeles home. Guests dressed in each other’s style, à la “Freaky Friday.” Attendees applied to gain entry by tagging their best friend in a social post.
“These are people who already advocate for the brand, so it feels very natural for them to continue to post and work with us to build on the thing they’re already doing,” Piccone said. “By creating these events and bringing these connections to life, it feels [different from the] influencers of the past. It’s this new way of connecting that is not just trying to sell something via their Instagram feed, but it’s also creating community. Nuuly [wants to be] a part of that. It makes you feel like Nuuly is your friend and not necessarily a brand.”
In September, Morgan Gillespie (@booksandlooksss; 21,000 Instagram followers) hosted her first of two Nuuly-sponsored events: a Brunch Book Swap at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, North Carolina. At the event, attendees swapped books they love, received $20 gift cards to the book store and participated in activations like bookmark decorating. Last summer, a member of the Nuuly influencer team reached out to Gillepsie to gauge her interest in hosting an event like this, noting the brand’s interest in partnering with smaller creators with niche communities.
For Gillepsie’s first Nuuly event, the brand helped her plan and budget. For the second, she was given a budget of $1,000, which she put toward things like paying for drinks and buying guests books — the second venue was another local Raleigh bookstore, Blackbird Books & Coffee. Like White, Gillepsie created custom beverages for the gathering. Each of Gillepsie’s events had 25 attendees, who were alerted of the event via her Instagram. “The first round, we were at capacity in less than an hour, maybe within 30 minutes of the signup going up, which was crazy. And then the second one was a little bit longer, but still, it was crazy,” Gillepsie said.
Piccone said the popularity of these events speaks to people’s desire to access “third spaces,” noting that the brand is working on more events that will play on this need. “We want to authentically connect with our customers, as well as people who might not be Nuuly-ing yet, but could be interested in Nuuly-ing within those third spaces, and create really fun events out of them,” she said. She noted that these events also offer a reason to get dressed up — in Nuuly-rented apparel, of course. To that end, in addition to providing a subscription code at events, Nuuly has often offered guests a subscription in advance of the events to ensure they have something to wear on the day of.
“We’re aiming to create spaces where people feel like they’re friends of the brand rather than consumers,” Piccone said. In the spring, Nuuly saw over 100 pieces of additional Instagram content created by attendees of these events, both in-feed and on Stories.
On a larger stage, the brand co-hosted an event with Ella Emhoff (504,000 Instagram followers, and Kamala Harris’s stepdaughter) at the restaurant Rule of Thirds in Brooklyn in late March. Emhoff had reached out to the brand a couple of years ago, expressing interest in working together, Piccone said. The event was an IRL activation of Emhoff’s Soft Hands Knit Club, and guests took part in a duplicate stitching workshop led by Emhoff. One hundred people attended, including influencers; Emhoff’s friends, like Clara Perlmutter (aka @tinyjewishgirl); and members of her social community. They were invited to sign up via an Eventbrite link shared on Emhoff’s Instagram. Nuuly declined to comment on the budget for this event.
According to URBN’s most recent earnings report, Nuuly’s subscriber base grew 53% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, surpassing 300,000 members with an additional 20,000 added. The brand closed the fiscal year with a $5.2 million profit, marking a full year of profitability. Quarterly revenue rose 56% to reach $113 million.
A representative said Nuuly does not have subscriber retention rates specific to the Club Nuuly events, but, they shared, almost half of Nuuly subscribers continue renting after one year, and over 40% maintain their subscription after two years.
Last Saturday, Club Nuuly member Candice Antoine (6,400 Instagram followers) created a bouquet-making event. To gain entry to the event, her followers were asked to comment their favorite springtime activities or type of flower. Antoine has a friend who works at Nuuly, which motivated her entry into the program. Using her $1,000 budget on a mix of Trader Joe’s flowers and flower district flowers, Antoine purchased bouquet-assembling supplies, as well as soft beverages and croissants.
“It was such a fun environment. I had a good time. I met so many people. Everybody exchanged information. … I mean, who would be mad at a little flower bouquet? People are happy to take that home,” she said. The group was comprised of Antoine’s friends plus followers she didn’t know. “People mingled and had a good time. I could see that people were smiling and enjoying themselves. So for me, that was the most important thing: everybody was happy,” she said on Zoom.
Coincidentally, Gillepsie also commented on guests’ smiles at both of the events she hosted. “Both times, I could not stop smiling. Both events were just days of love — just such a good time and all of the good vibes. … The whole time, people were getting to know one another, gushing about books and [about] Nuuly. I can’t say enough good things about it, because both times I’ve done it, my heart [has been] so happy when I came out of it. Because it’s just humanity! It’s just the girlies! The besties!”
Collab of the week: Amika x Ellis Brooklyn
As hair and body mists soar in popularity, hair-care brand Amika and fragrance brand Ellis Brooklyn have found a way to combine the two, with their new product collaboration, which puts the latter’s Miami Nectar scent in the former’s hero Perk Up Dry Shampoo, which is, according to Circana, the No. 1 prestige dry shampoo in the U.S., based on sales.
“This collaboration came so naturally,” said Bee Shapiro, founder and CEO of Ellis Brooklyn. “[Both brands] were founded in Brooklyn, and when we got together about a year ago to discuss the partnership, we found out we had so much in common.” The limited-edition product is available now for $28. Shop it here.
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